Xi’s old rival taps into discontent

‘‘For Xi Jinping, ideology and his position as supreme leader come first. Economy is secondary.’’ Willy Lam Chinese University of Hong Kong

For almost a decade since he was sidelined by China’s President Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang played the loyal premier, seemingly content to be consigned to obscurity.

As Li, 66, approaches the end of his second term, however, observers say he is more willing to question the policies of his president and former rival.

Sources say that in recent weeks, Li, an economist who studied at Peking University, has scaled back some of Xi’s most ‘‘damaging’’ policies. These include a crackdown on China’s tech sector and its influential cohort of billionaires.

Reports suggest that Li engineered an easing of regulations on tech companies such as Alibaba, while easing lending to property developers and home buyers.

The measures come as pressure to ease Covid-19 restrictions is growing, with suggestions that Beijing is ‘‘losing more than it gains’’ from lockdowns.

It appeared this week that China would not meet its growth targets of about 5.5 per cent this year, with the unemployment rate among young people climbing to record highs.

In a rare display of unrest, hundreds of students at Peking University protested last weekend against Covid curbs. Public spaces and restaurants in the capital have been shut. Millions face daily tests and working from home.

Li has alluded in recent speeches to the growing discontent. He told a state council meeting this month: ‘‘We must face the difficulties and challenges, and strive to stabilise the overall economy.’’

In another sign that Li is challenging the party line, he visited a university in the southwest province of Yunnan last week and addressed students without wearing a mask, an act of defiance in a nation where they have become ubiquitous and mandatory. Images of Li went viral, in a sign of simmering discontent, but then vanished from the internet.

Li is also said to be trying to influence the selection of his replacement when he steps down as prime minister this year, trying to install a ‘‘counterweight’’ to Xi.

At a party congress later this year, the 68-year-old president will seek a third term as general secretary, furthering his goal of becoming a leader for life.

A faction of party officials is said to support Li’s attempts to rein in Xi. They say he has ‘‘focused too heavily on adhering to an ideology rooted in Mao Zedong’s socialist vision’’.

Li is believed to be supported by officials linked to the Communist Youth League, whose past leaders include Hu Jintao, a former party chief.

Minxin Pei, editor of the China Leadership Monitor, told The Wall Street Journal that previously, Li was ‘‘practically nonexistent’’, but now he ‘‘looks better by the day’’.

His rivalry with Xi can be traced to 2013, when the president was chosen over Li, a close ally of Hu.

Li, who studied law in Peking before gaining a doctorate in economics, became China’s youngest provincial governor when he took the helm at Henan in 1998. He rose to a post in the party’s central leadership in 2007, before becoming premier in 2013.

Willy Lam, a political scientist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said that despite Li’s growing assertiveness, Xi remained ‘‘beyond challenge’’.

‘‘For Xi Jinping, ideology and his position as supreme leader come first. Economy is secondary,’’ Lam said. ‘‘That’s why Li Keqiang has been more active in the past few months.’’